GEORGETOWN – The town’s Conservation Committee will hold a special meeting Thursday to discuss hiring a director to replace Michele Grenier, who was fired by Town Administrator Orlando Pacheco in a controversial action that left a key town board with no staff.
The issue, which was intensely debated at the ConCom meeting last week, is whether the Georgetown town administrator has the authority to hire and fire the commission’s agent.
State law, Mass Gen Laws 40C, states: The (conservation) may appoint a director, clerks, consultants and other employees, and may contract for materials and services within available funds insofar as the same are not supplied by other departments.
It does not provide for the SelectBoard or the town administrator to appoint a director or any ConCom employees. Town’s conservation commissions report directly to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
Without consulting or approval by the ConCom, Pacheco hired Rockport conservation agent John Lopez as a temporary consulting agent for five to seven hours per week. Lopez attended the ConCom meeting last week and tried to speak once, but was not recognized.
ConCom chair Rachel Therrien told Lopez earlier that he had not being hired as the conservation agent, setting up another conflict between the town administrator and the ConCom. The ConCom has formed a hiring subcommittee to begin screening applicants for the ConCom agent position.
The work of the commission, which oversees the town’s wetlands, has had no staff since Grenier’s firing. The permitting work is being done by the chair and vice chair Amy Graffum, two volunteers.
On one project involving the town’s water department, the permits were left at the police station so at least four commission members could sign them. But Pacheco, who was vacationing in the Dominican Republic, had the paperwork, with only three commissioners’ signatures, removed from the police station, which stays open 24 hours a day, and left in the locked commission office where it was not accessible.
Without the fourth signature, the work being performed by engineering firm Tighe and Bond was delayed for several days.
Grenier was fired on Friday, March 18, without approval of the SelectBoard or the ConCom, which hired her. She had staffed the ConCom since Nov. 27, 2023.
“I can confirm we are in receipt of the letter and the matter has been forwarded to our insurance company as the appropriate protocol. They have assigned the appropriate personnel and will handle the matter moving forward,” Pacheco wrote.
Pacheco also serves as the town’s human resources director, which means any complaints by employees of discrimination or other wrongs would be investigated by him.
In the termination letter, Grenier was fired for allegedly concealing a transcript of a Zoom recording of her conversations prior to the meeting. Grenier said that she never concealed any transcript.
Pacheco also cited a recorded comment by Grenier in the transcript as “unacceptable behavior” for a town employee. He wrote her, “(Y)ou mention that in talking about the Town Administrator that ‘It’s your f… job’.” She was complaining that he had not given town employees computer software so they could work remotely during last winter’s ice storms.
Last week, Pacheco told The Town Common that he had not fired Grenier for questioning his job performance, although he wrote in the termination letter that he had.
When Pacheco was asked by the SelectBoard if he had cleared the firing of Grenier with legal counsel, the town administrator said he had consulted “legal.” Board members assumed he meant the law firm K&P Law on retainer with the town.
Pacheco has since acknowledged that he hired a different law firm, Murphy, Hesse, Twomey & Lahane, without approval of the SelectBoard. The firm’s opinion on the town administrator’s authority over the hiring and firing of town employees has not been made public.
The administrator’s hiring of a different law firm than K&P Law prompted SelectBoard member Mike Donahue to file an emergency Open Meeting Law complaint.
Grenier’s attorney Simon Mann wrote: “The Town’s actions have caused Ms. Grenier significant financial harm and emotional distress and constitute clear violations of Massachusetts law.” ♦
